


Habits

by everlove



Category: This Means War (2012)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Other, Past Drug Use, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:18:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2111364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everlove/pseuds/everlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Emily Graham (Lucy Pinder) turns 26 years old, she finds herself bored with her life.  With the exception of her best friend April Kingsley (Nina Dobrev), everything from Emily's career and personal life has become a dull routine.  That is until her boss, Justin Hayes (Alexander Skarsgard), reveals his sexual attraction toward Emily during a private meeting in his office.  Emily discovers deep seeded issues within herself as she fights off her boss's advances.  She also finds herself becoming interested in another man, Adam Walker (Tom Hardy) whom unexpectedly enters the picture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Habits

**Author's Note:**

> Adam is taken by Emily's charm, but becomes unsure if their desire is worth venturing into after he realizes how insecure Emily truly is. Emily's insecurity knows no bounds as she's never stopped Justin from taking advantage of her. She would rather be pursued by someone she doesn't want, than have the attention disappear completely.

**Epilogue**

Why should I be surprised? It appears to be another uneventful year. Working a tedious job with no advancement. Not to mention studying at any free moment I have and still not any closer to that unattainable degree. You know, in high school, they stressed how important it is to excel academically and go to college. Would it have hurt to give a heads up that ideals change? Maybe even warn us that dreams do not last? Either the case, mid-twenties aren’t what I thought they would be. “Is this how you’re going to be all night?” I turn to see my one and only best friend staring at me while she stirs her drink with a neon green swizzle stick. “I’m sorry, April. I’m just not too excited about growing older.” I look to my reflection in the mirror behind the many bottles of liquor. I didn’t realize I was resting my chin under my right hand. Could I look even more stuck up and bored? “Come on, Em’! It’s too cliché to be sulking at the bar in a club!” April hops away from the bar and points toward the dance floor unrelentingly. “We should be out there! Wearing out our heels or at least grinding on good looking strangers in the dark!” April was always the exciting, outgoing one. She always made me feel like I was a dull person. Of course, that was me feeling that way and nothing intentional on her part. Taking in a deep breath, I down what’s left of my drink hoping it is what they say, “liquid courage”. “Alright! Let’s go!” I turn forcefully toward the club-goers throwing their bodies around in rhythm to soft, but fast tune blaring throughout the building. All the while thinking to myself, is this all I really have to look forward to?

 

**Chapter 1**

“Son of a-“ I mutter as the revolving door halts and locks in before I walk through. Swiping my badge for the second time, I finally am able to enter the pristine lobby area dawning “GLOBAL INSIGHT” across the wall. My workplace of two years and they made sure I did not forget it with their company name plastered in front of me every morning. “Long night?” The security guard sitting at the reception area shouts out. “Good morning to you too, Max.” He smiles as he glances at his watch. “Cuttin’ it a little too close. Don’t cha think, Ms. Graham?” Walking while I make an attempt to juggle my coffee, purse, and phone. “You know, Max. I liked it better when you didn’t know my name.” Max chuckles as he rises from his seat. “You remind me so much of my wife when she was your age, Emily. Let me get the elevator for you, dear.” Max has been apart of our building’s security detail for over 30 years. He was the first face I saw when I interviewed and remains to be the last face I see at the end of my workday. Always the gentleman, he took a fancy to me over the years and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the old man’s acquaintanceship. “You might want to try putting your phone in your purse, Emmie. Won’t be juggling around so much.” Embarrassed that I didn’t think of that before, I smile. “I could do that, Max. But then again, who would get up and push the elevator button for me.” Max throws his head back and lets out a hearty chuckle. “Just like my Maggie. God rest her soul.” The elevator pings and doors open. “Thank you, Max! Have a good day!” The old man nods his head and turns to walk back to his station as the elevator door shuts. As the elevator begins to shift, I start planning out my day in my head. I wasn’t looking forward to my meeting with my manager for my performance review. I had been struggling with my numbers for a few weeks and knowing my manager’s focus on metrics, it was going to be the topic of discussion. “Good morning, sunshine!” The familiar voice, I’ve come to know so well. “Good morning, Amanda.” I’ve worked with Amanda for over 2 years. Not the most pleasant person, she has the reputation of being outlandish and out spoken. As most of the office did not get on well with Amanda, I found her to be genuine. She ended up finding me to be her only comrade in the war zone. “Did I tell you about Justin? He might be leaving next month!” Even though many did not warm up to her, she was quite the gossip and always had an ear out for conversation. “What do you mean? Where did you hear this?” I was definitely interested as Justin was our fearless leader of a manager. “Yesterday! I stayed late to finish up with a client. I guess he thought we all left for the day because when I was passing the conference room to leave, I heard him on a call with corporate. He was saying something about a transfer somewhere. I’m not sure, but on alert just in case.” I nodded my head as I set down my things for the day. I knew my afternoon meeting with Justin was not going to go over well, but now with the rumor of him transferring, I was kind of looking forward to it.

3 o’ clock rolled around pretty quickly as I finished several follow up calls with clients. I began to make my way toward the now “famous” conference room for my scheduled meeting with Justin. Placing my portfolio on the conference table, I whip out my pen and begin jotting down the time and date for notation purposes. Just as I place my pen down, I look up and see Amanda enter the room. “What are you doing in here?” I asked perplexed. “I don’t know.” Amanda casually blurts out as she plops herself down to the seat next to me. “Justin barely sent a mass email out to the team to come into the conference room.” Before I knew it, more bodies filed into the small room. “Emily? Do you know what this is about?” Cameron asks as he takes the seat across from myself. “I have no idea.” I reply as he looks around the room just as mystified as I am. “Alright everyone, take a seat if you can.” A firm, familiar voice says as Justin enters the room. “I apologize for the impromptu meeting but I just received news I wanted to share with you all first.” Justin nervously brushes his blonde hair back with his right hand. “I’m just going to get straight to it and let you all know that I will be leaving in two weeks. I am being transferred to our home campus in Stamford, Connecticut. There’s been an incident in which one of our directors there was let go this morning. I was fortunate enough to be offered the position and as of a few minutes ago, I accepted. With that being said, we will be looking to hire someone to fill my previous position as your manager. I have been tasked with letting you all know if there is any interest on your part, please express it. I’m hoping to have my position filled in two weeks before I leave so, suffice it to say, it would not do you any favors to be shy if you are interested. My door will be open for questions or concerns. Don’t forget you can also reach out to me via email or instant message. For now, does anyone have any immediate questions or concerns?” We all look around the room and see no raised hands. “Very well. Remember, I am available if any of you do have questions. In the mean time, let’s get back in focus and get back to our duties. I’ll be in my office.” Justin turns and exits as others follow. Amanda nudges me and whispers. “Told you.” We both begin to exit the room ourselves and notice Justin still standing right outside the door. As several of our co-workers wish him congratulations on their way out, Justin looks to me. “Emily. May I speak to you for a moment in my office?” I nod and follow.

Great! Just when I thought I was in the clear and avoided a verbal bashing from my boss, he asks to speak to me privately. I started silently rehearsing my responses as I imagined Justin unyieldingly lay into me about not meeting expectations this quarter. “Please, take a seat.” Justin says as he opens the door for me and shuts it behind me. “Ms. Graham, first off, I want to apologize for taking advantage of our meeting time.” Justin opens a file on his desk and takes a seat as he slides on his reading glasses. “It’s quite alright, Mr. Hayes. Sometimes there are other matters that take precedence.” Justin immediately looks up with his bright blue eyes. “Now Ms. Graham, are you saying your performance in the work place holds no relevance?” I resist my desire to roll my eyes and adjusted my glasses instead. “Of course not, Mr. Hayes.” I try to respond as politely as possible. “Well then, Ms. Graham. There’s no need for modesty, is there? Quarterly reviews of my senior associates are vital to ensure their validity to their position as well as to myself as their administrator.” Justin folds his hands on top of the open file and leans forward. “So, tell me. How do you think you did this past quarter, Ms. Graham?” I begin to feel my palms become heavy with uneasiness. “Well, Mr. Hayes…I-“ Before I could finish my sentence he put up his right hand to stop me. “Please, Ms. Graham, I’ve told you before. You may call me Justin.” Becoming quite agitated, I squared my eyes and continued. “Alright, Justin. I am aware that I may have struggled with my metrics this last quarter. Howev-.” He begins to rise out of, what I assume, is a genuine leather chair. “Ms. Graham.“ He says as he takes steps toward the front of his desk. “Its Emily!” I exclaim unintentionally. “My apologies, Emily.” He says strongly as he crosses his arms and begins to lean onto his desk. I immediately recognized his attempt at intimidation as he stood in front of me. Already, I was done with the meeting. I contemplated just walking out and leaving him speaking. Of course I knew I did not have the nerve to actually do it. “Emily.” He continued. “Obviously you have no line of professional etiquette as you feel blurting out is appropriate. So, allow me to ask you a question very quickly before you boorishly shout again. In light of recent events, will you be expressing interest in my prior position as your manager?” I clenched my jaw as I became angered by Justin’s condescending tone. “No, Justin. I am not interested in management.” I replied politely with a smile. “And why is that, may I ask?” He quickly responded. “Well. It is from my experience that those in the management field tend to become obsessed with numbers and forget the human aspect of business. I would go as far as to even say they tend to become bosses, not leaders.” He brought his hand to his face and rested his palm onto his cheek. “I wonder, Emily. If you could be referring to myself in your explanation.” He said as he took a few steps away from his desk toward the door behind me. I figured my statement had offended him to the point he would ask me to leave. There was a moment of silence and then I felt him place his hands on my shoulders. “Is that really what you believe of me, Emily?” He kept his hands perfectly rested on my shoulders as I kept my gaze on the file that placed on top of his desk. “Well, Justin. If the shoe fits.” I said calmly as I kept my eyes forward. I was not going to allow him the opportunity to see me falter, even if it meant disciplinary action. He was leaving in two weeks so it didn’t matter to me what he thought. I was not going to be asking anything of him. Worst-case scenario, he would try to find a reason to fire me. Even then I wouldn’t care. This job didn’t mean anything more to me than a paycheck every two weeks. As I was about to ask if our meeting was over, I felt his hands move down toward my waist. I became startled as he came to my right ear. “If you really think so negatively of me, then this will be even more enjoyable.” I leapt up and turned to face him. “What would b-“ Before I could say anything further, he came closer to me and placed his index finger on my lips. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, Emily. With my impending transfer, I am not wasting any time.” I was completely stunned as he lifted his index finger off of my lips. He was always so rude and callous toward me. At one point I did find him very attractive, but his arrogance quickly overturned that observation. He leaned toward me and placed his hands on my waist. “If you want me to stop, I will.” He said as he began to pull up my skirt. “But I know you don’t want me to stop, Emily.” He leaned me back and onto the edge of his desk. He pulled my face toward his and placed his lips on mine. I froze as he ran his other hand along the side of my thigh and gripped my knee. Caught completely off guard, his lips parted mine. “I know you don’t dislike me as much as you put on. I knew you wanted me as soon as you walked through that door.” Justin whispered as his fingers slowly traced the lace of my thigh high stockings. I was in shock. Here is the man, this man whose presence I could not even stomach for more than five minutes. His whole demeanor exuded narcissism and self-righteousness. But I didn’t stop him. I couldn’t stop him. Suddenly, his desk phone began to ring. I quickly snapped back to reality and shoved him off of me. He looked at me, surprised and reached over to answer the call. “This is Justin.” He said as I began to pull myself together. “Yes, Mr. Davis.” He continued as I looked at him and shook my head confoundedly. He looked back at me and slowly grinned. “Yes, Mr. Davis. I’ve met with my team and advised them of the transfer.”

“So you just walked out?” April asked as she started diving into a bowl of cereal. “Yes, I said I wasn’t feeling well and left before he could get off his phone call. I didn’t know what to do, April! I mean, the man was feeling me up in his office. I was surprised he could be anything other than narcissistic, let alone him being attracted to me.” I replied as I placed a glass and bottle of white wine down onto the coffee table in front of us. “Okay, so obviously you don’t like him. Are you attracted to him at all?” April asked before taking another bite of her soggy-appearing cereal. “No.” I said as I began to pour myself a glass. “And all he did was kiss you?” She continued. “Yes, that and feel up my thighs. Luckily it didn’t go further than that.” I said I as I took a sip. “Would you have let it gone further if he tried?” I didn’t think about it, really. What if he had tried to have sex with me, right then and there, in his office? I don’t think I would have stopped him. The sad part was I could have probably stopped him before that excellently timed call was placed to his phone. It had been a long time since someone showed interest in me. Not that I would have noticed with my monotonous routine of work, study, and sleep. I stopped caring about my appearance when I took on a bigger workload and added two more courses to my class schedule. Even though I occasionally will try to “dress up” and look nice, I haven’t felt very appealing. My break up with Alex over a year ago also doesn’t help my self-esteem, as he decided sneaking around with his female co-worker was much better than being with me. So, yes, perhaps I could have stopped Justin today. Did I want to? That’s a whole other territory I’d rather not venture because I’m afraid of the answer. “Well, I can tell by your silence Em’ that you’d rather not talk about this anymore. I’ll respect that, but I want you to remember you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. So don’t allow anyone the chance to force you into something.” I nodded as I pursed my lips. She was right and I knew it. For now, I only have to deal with Justin for another two weeks and I’d rather not ruffle any feathers before he leaves.


End file.
